About us
AiF Projekt GmbH is a project management that works on behalf of federal and state ministries as well as other official government institutions all across Germany.
Our team of 150 employees supports our public clients as well as small and medium-sized enterprises and their research partners that are ready to innovate, with its know-how and extensive expertise from more than three decades of project management work for the Federal Government's SME-oriented technology funding measures.
Our work focuses on project management, expert opinions and mentoring in small and medium-sized enterprise innovation funding programs run by the federal and state governments, networking companies with foreign cooperation partners and managing events on innovation-related topics. Our services also include advising public clients on the conception and design of innovation funding measures and on the efficient use of funding.
As an authorized project management agency of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), we manage the R&D cooperation projects of the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM), currently the largest federal funding program for innovative SMEs. We advise small and medium-sized companies willing to innovate and their research partners about the funding options available, accept their applications for funding, assess the projects, make the funding decision, usually within three months, pay out the funds and check the final proof of use.
With 85 expert assessors covering all areas of modern technology and around 20 business management employees, we support innovation projects in all phases of the R&D project and ensure that the funding is used appropriately for our clients. We support the planning and implementation of transnational cooperation projects in the form of advice, network activities and the use of bilateral agreements with various countries.
Together with VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH and the DLR Project Management Agency, we operate the Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In collaboration with our partners, we examine applications for tax relief for research expenditure (Forschungszulage) in accordance with the law on tax incentives for research and development. If eligibility is established, we issue certificates with which companies can apply for the research allowance at the relevant tax office.
In the program to promote research, innovation and technology (Pro FIT) of the state of Berlin, we contribute our professional expertise in the form of expert opinions and project-related mentoring.
Where we come from
We, AiF Projekt GmbH, are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Association of Industrial Research Associations "Otto von Guericke" e. V. (AiF). As an industry-supported umbrella organization of 85 industry-specific non-profit research associations, it counts almost all sectors of German medium-sized businesses among its members, to which 1,200 research institutions and around 135,000 companies are affiliated.
Founded in June 1990 as a Berlin branch to prepare project sponsorships in the new federal states and to support East German research centers in their entry into industrial joint research, we now operate nationwide. At the same time, we have steadily expanded our portfolio. We have been operating as a GmbH since 2010.
